Milking apparatus



W. MORGAN AND 0.1. MUCKLE.

MILKING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV 22. I920.

1 430 022 A PatentedSept. 26, 1922.

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BYWW W W. MORGAN AND C. J. MUCKLE.

MILKING APPARATUS. APPLICATION TILED NOV. 22. I920.

1 ,QZSQOZZ, Patented Sept. 26, 1922.

3 SHEETSSHEET 3.

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Fatented Sept. 26, 1922.

STATES 1,43a022 PATNT orr ca.

WILLIAM MORGAN, OF MINNEAPOLIS, AND CLARENCE J. MIUCKLE, S'I. IEKAITL,

MINNESOTA, ASSIGNORS, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, 'ro rnnnrnrmnnr Minx- ING MACHINE COMPANY, A CORPORATION.

MrLKme APPARATUS.

Application filed November 22, 1920. Serial No. 425,740.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, WILLIAM FVIORGAN and CLARENCE J. Muonnn, citizens of the United States, residing, respectively. at Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin, State of Minnesota, and at St. Paul, in the county of Ramsey and State of Minnesota. have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Milking Apparatus. of which the followin is a specification.

ur invention relates to milking apparatus, and has for an object to provide ap paratus by means of which a substantially constant degree of vacuum is maintained in the milk-pail. or receptacle into which the milk is drawn from cows. Our invention relates more particularly to mechanism for producing pulsations in connection with the closed compartment or double-chamber style of teatcup, and a further object is to provide pulsating mechanism by means of which the milk from two cows at a time may be drawn into a single pail or receiver. Other objects are to provide an efiicient form of reversingvalve and milk-cocks.

The full objects and advantages of our invention will appear in connection with the detailed description thereof, and the novel features embodied in our inventive idea will be particularly pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings which illustrate a practical embodiment of our invention, Fig. 1 is a top plan view of the apparatus; Fig. 2 is a view in vertical section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a front elevational view; Fig 4c is a view similar to Fig. 3 but with the valve protect ing cover removed; Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 1 but with the valve removed; Fig. 6'

is a rear elevational view of the valve; 7 is a View in vertical section on the line 77 of Fig. 6; Fig. 8 is a view in vertical section on the line 8-8 of Fig. l; 9 is a View in vertical section on the line 9-9 of Fig 11; Fig. 10 is a view in vertical section on the line 10-1O of Fig. 9'; Fig. 11 is a View in horizontal section on the line 11-4.]. of Fig. 2; Fig. 12 is a view in vertical section on the line 1212 of Fig. 4C; 13 is a view similar to Fig 4 but showing the valve moved into a different position.

Referring to the particular construction able suction device such as a vacuum tank and pump, it being understood that any desired number of milking machines may be connected by flexible tubing such as to a pipe leading to the vacuum device. A base member 26 is removably attached to the cover 18 by means of a thumb nut- 28' adapted to be screwed upon an externally threaded hollowprojection 80 which extends through a hole in the cover, as best shown in Figs.

2 and 8.- A horizontal cylinder 82 is secured upon the base member 26, and this cylinder is provided with an elongated piston 84L which may be introduced into and removed from the cylinder upon removing suew caps 36 and 38 with which the ends of the cylinder are fitted. .The cylinder near ts ends is provided with holes 40 and 42, connected,

respectively, with the ducts a l and 46 which;

in turn, are connected to ducts 4:8 and 50 opening out through the front ofthe base member 26, as best shown inFig. 5. In the base member 26 are chambers 52 and closed at their outer ends by s rew plugs 56 and 58. Ducts 60 and 62 lead from the chamhers 52 and 5 1, respectively, out through the front of the base portion. The chamber communicates with a pair of nipples 6a and 66, while the chambered communicates with a pair of nipples 68 and 70. The hollow projection 30 previously mentioned eon nects with a central vertical chamber '7 2 from which ducts 74 and 76 open out through the front of the base member 26. An oscillatory valve '1' 8 is pivotally mounted by means of a screw 80 extending through 'a hole 82 in the'valve and into a screwthreaded opening 84 in the base member. This valve is provided with two holes 86 and 88. When the valve is in one extreme position as shown in Fig. 4. the hole 88 registers with the duct 62 and the hole 86 registers with the duct 48. When the valve is in the other extreme position as shown in Fig. 13, the hole 88 registers with the duct 50 and the hole 86 the ducts and and the recess 9:2 connects the ducts 76 and 60. lVhen the valve is in the position shown in Fig. 13, the recess EEC cour" is the ducts 7 1 and 48 and the recess .onnects the ducts 76 and (2. The valve is escillated by means of the nioven ent o l' the plunger 34 in the following; in cured to the plunger 3% and capaltdc o ing in a slot in the cylinder a proic or strip 94, to the lower end, of which is cured a spring having two di'nrnwardly ere tending branches 96 and which straddle a lug 100 which extends out from the l portion of the valve '78. shown in drawings the branches or arms 96 and 531% ad acent their points oil at lament are bowed away from each other to 'irovide greater resiliency. When the piston moves from rightto left and is approachii A it: extreme left hand position. as shown l:

13. the branch 98 of the spring causes ic valve to oscillate into the position siiorcii. in Fig. 4:. The engagement of the in end of the strip 94, with the upper edge o l valve prevents movei'nent of the latter unti the strip 9% is at about the position-shown in Fig. 13 which places the branch Sit-l of the spring under tension so that as soon, a the strip 94.- reaches the cutout portion 102 in the valve the latter is released and the spring:

member 98 moves the valve with a uuiclrsnappy action into the position shown in Fig. 4. When the piston moves from left to right, the spring member 953 moves the valve in similar manner into its other c?-1- treme position. In order to protect the valve, a cover 10% is providei'l which "is held in place by thumb screws it'll. [0%. The cover is provided with holes [1 i sage of air. The niilkpail cover is proridrd with a pair of sockets iii and "5; which open through the (over into t e intcriorot the pail. The interior walls hrs-e sockets are tapered to receive tapered. oluc s or cocks l 116, 118 provided withhandl '1 by means of which they may bring recesses 12 1- into and out with nipples 19 6 and 1528 which s to the sockets. Each of the plugs pro vided with a peripheral groove 130 now: its lower end which cooperates with a projection 132 located within the socket below the nin ple as shown in Fig. 9. From th is obvious that when the plus that its recess is out of re l nipple, the plug" is held in place. and when the recess registers with the ni 'mle. the bluemay be removed from its socket. A. pair ot F gure} it is turned so claws. such as the claw shown at the lower left hand portion in F 1, is provided, and

to the chamber 52.

another set oi tour teatcups aresunilarly the pus-- ster' with the.

since these claws are alike, a disclosure of one of them is suiiicient. The claw has a central tube which is connected lay a flexible hose 136 with the nipple 1'28. 'lhe tube 134- has four branches which are counected with the four teatcu 'zs l -ltl eniploved for milking one cow. These teatcups are of well known construction having an inner chamber and an outer chamber formed by a flexible lining, preferably of rubber within a rigid casing, the outer chamber being located between the casing; and the lining. The inner chambers of the teatcups are connected with the central tube 134.- so as to be constantly subjected to the vacuum in the milkpail when the plug 118 is in such position that its recess registers with the nipple 128. The outer chambers of two oi the teat cups are connected by branch tubes Ml") to a flexible hose 1 12 which is attached to the nipple leading to the chamber and the outer chambers of the other two teatcups ot the set are connected to a flexible hose hill which is attached. to the nipple 3t; leadiu The inner chambers of connected to a flexible hose 1 1-8 leading to the nipple 126, and the outer chambers of these teatcups are connected by the hose lines 150 and 152 to the nipples 68 and 6%. it being understood that a claw device similar to that previously referred to is used for this purpose. The cover 18 oil themilkpail is provided'with a handle or bail 154cto which are attached hooks 156 upon which the hose lines may be supported when not in use.

The operation an d advantages oi our invention will be understood from the foregoing); description. The interior of the milk- .pail and the chamber T2 are maintained under the vacuum by suction through the nipple EM and its connections as long as the device is in operation. The piston is caused to reciprocate on account of the tact that one end oi the cylinder is under vacuum through the ducts l6 and 4.8, the recess and the duct '74; connected to the chamber i523 at the same time that tire other end of l n the valve. This is the position shown in l 'st. \When the valve has been oscillated -ito the position shown in Fig. 4. the condition oi vacuum and air pressure in the ends ol the cylinder is lBVQl'SGCl. lVhen the valve is in the position shown in F in. 13.

duct '76. hen the valve has been oscillated into the position shown in i. the condition oi vacuum and air pressure in the chambers 52 andiisi is reversed. Assuming the chan'iber 553 to be SUbJGCtGil'tO air prcssure and the chamber 5 to be under vacuum, then, by means of the nipples 64; and 66 and connections leading to the teatcups, the outer chambers in two of the teatcups in each set will be subjected to air oressure, and, by means of the nipples 68 and 70, the outer chambers in the other two teatcups of each set will be, subjected to vacuum. Vhen the valve has been moved into its other position, then the condition of the vacuum and air pressure in the outer chambers of the two sets of teatcups is reversed. It will thus be apparent that the inner chambers of the teat cups which receive directly the teats are sub jected to constant suction, and that the chambers outside the flexible members of the teatcups are subjected alternately to air at atmospheric pressure and suction. During the former condition, the teats are subjected to asqueezing action, and during the latter condition the inward pressure is released on account of the suction in the inside and outside of the flexible lining being equalized. It is obvious from the description of the connections shown in Fig. 1, that the milk from two cows will be drawn into a single receptacle, and that two of the teats of each cow are subjected to squeezing action at the time when the other two are released, the squeezing action and the releasing action being alternated in accordance with the pulsations produced by the reciprocation of the piston and the oscillation of the valve. When the milking operation has been completed. the plugs llti and 118 are turned so that their recesses 124 no longer register with the nipples 126 and 128.. lVhenthus turned, the peripheral groove 130 is engaged by the lug 132 and the plugs are kept from being lost out of their sockets while the pail is being carriedmien the apparatus is not in use, it is an easy matter to remove the plugs for cleaning upon turning them so that the lug 182 is located in the gap in the peripheral groove caused by the recess 124.

Ne claim:

1. A milking apparatus comprising a milk receptacle,teatcups adapted to be connected with said receptacle, a cylinder, a piston in said cylinder, an oscillatory valve mounted adjacent said cylinder, a projection attached to said piston and slidable in a slot in said cylinder, said projection being adapted to hold said valve alternately in its extreme positions until said piston approaches the ends of its stroke, two spaced arms having resilient action and mounted to reciprocate with said piston and straddling a projection on said valve, and means controlled by said valve for causing pulsations in said teatcups.

2. A milking apparatus comprising a milk receptacle,teatcups adapted to be connected with said receptacle, a cylinder mounted on said receptacle, a piston in said cylinder, an

oscillatory valve mounted acent said cylinder and having two locking surfaces separated by a release opening, a projection attached to said piston and slidable in a slot in said cylinder, said projection being adapted to engage said locking surfaces alternately until said piston approaches the ends of its stroke, two spaced arms having resilient action and mounted to reciprocate with said piston and straddling a projectirm on said valve. and means controlled by said valve forcausing pulsations in said teatcups,

it milking machine comprising a milk receptacle, teatcups adapted to be connected with said receptacle, a cylinder, mounted on saidreceptacle, a piston in said cylinder, an

oscillatory valve mounted adjacent said c'ylinder, a projecting strip attached to said piston and slidable in a slot in said cylinder, said projecting slip being adapted to hold said valve alternately in its extreme positions until said. piston approaches the ends of its stroke, two spaced arms having resilient action and secured to said projecting strip and having their free ends straddling a projection on said valve, and means controlled by said valve for causing pulsations in said teatcups.

4:. A milking machine comprising a milk receptacle, teatcups adapted to be connected with said receptacle, a cylinder mounted on said receptacle, a piston in said cylinder, an oscillatory valve mounted adjacent said cylinder, a projecting strip attached to said piston and slidable in a slot in said cylinder, said projecting strip being adapted to hold said valve alternately in its extreme positions until said piston approaches the ends of its stroke, a spring having two. spaced arms secured to said projecting strip and having its free ends straddling a projection on said valve, said arms adjacent their points 'of attachment being bowed away from each other to provide greater resiliency, and means controlled by said valve for causing pulsations in said teatcups.

5. A milking apparatus comprising a milk receptacle, a cover for said receptacle, two sets of teatcups adapted to be connected with said receptacle, a base member attached to said. cover, a horizontal cylinder secured upon said base member, an elongated piston in said cylinder, ducts connecting the end portions of said cylinder to the front of said base member, a central chamber in said base member communicating with the interior of said receptacle and from which ducts lead to the front of said base member, a pair of side chambers in said base member, two nipples connected to each of said side chambers, ducts leading from said chambers to the front of said base member, an oscillatory valve mounted on the front of said base member, said valve having two holes which register respectively and in alternation with one or the other of the ducts associated with said cylinder, and with one or the other at the ducts associated with said side chambers according to whether the valve is oscillated into one or the other of its extreme positions, said valve having upper and lower segmental recesses which connect respectively and in alternation one or the other of the ducts associated with said cylinder and one or the other of the ducts associated with said side chambers according to whether the valve is oscillated with one or the other of its extreme positions, a strip attached to said piston and slidable in a slot in said cylinder, said strip being adapted to hold said valve alternately in its extreme positions until said piston approaches the ends of its stroke, a forked spring attached to said strip and adapted to straddle a projection on said valve whereby the latter is reversed with a WILLIAM MORGAN. CLARENCE J. MUCKLE. 

